Furnace charging bell



J 23, 1931- c. w. ANDREWS 1,811,702

FURNACE CHARGING BELL Filed Feb. 1, 1928 I 54 I (z J5 Uzarlaa if Maw,

Patented June 23, 1931 UNITED STATES.

CHARLES W.

PATENTKOFFFICE' PANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS rnnnncn CHARGING 13am Application filed February 1, 1928. seria no; 250,970.

This invention relates to a new and improved blast furnace charging bell construe ble bell system, the charge being held be tween two bells and passed into the top of the furnace by lowering the lower and larger bell. A wide variety of means have been invented in the endeavor to distribute a charge uniformly about the circumference of the furnace. These means serve toinsure that substantially equal portions of the charge are introduced in to each portion of the periphery of the furnace but they do not effect a uniformity of the charge throughout the cross sectional area of the furnace.

The usual bells shoot the charge off of their sloping surfaces against the sides of the furnace. The large lumps are deflected from the sides of the furnaces and roll back toward the center directly under the bell, which center portion of the charge is usually low. Substantially all of thefiner material is deposited adjacent the sides of the bell. This has the result of making the center of the furnace much more permeable and open for the passage of the gases through the furnace. These 1 inequalities would be reduced if it were possible to substantially evenly distribute mixed 'fine and coarse material over a wider portion of the area of the furnace charge as the gases would then pass up more evenly through the charge and the charge itself would travel down'the furnace more evenly. This would result in smoother operation of the furnace and less production of flue dust. 7

According to the present invention this more even distribution is accomplished by the use of a hopper ring which engages the charging bell at a pointspacedfromthe periphery of the bell. The bell ismade to extend a variable distance beyond the line of engagement with the hopper ring at different points in the periphery of the bell. While many such forms of construction are possible to carry out this invention, the pre ferred form consists in having the edge of the bell generally oblong in horizontal projection with rounded ends. The narrowerdimension is such that the sides are closely-:- adjacent the line of the engagement between thehopper" ring and the charging bell and the outer ends of the longer dimension will be located radially outward from the line of the hopper ring any desired distance, depending upon the size and operation of the parts. The bell is rotated progressively during the operation of the furnace.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved charging bell construction adapted to more evenly distribute the mixed fine andcoarse material throughout a wider portion of the cross sec- I tional area of the furnace.

It is an additional object to provide a construction of this character in which the charging bell itself is progressively rotated as the furnace is charged.

It is also an object to provide a construction of this character which is simple in design and operation, and adapted for commercial production and installation without material change in existing structures.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds. 1

I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 1s afragmentary sectional view showing my improved bell construction applied to thetop of a blast furnace;

. Figure 2 is a plan view of the charging belljfand r Figure 3 is a plan view on an enlarged scale showing the ratchet bell'rotating mechamsm. 1 V j 1 Referring first to Figure .1, the top of the blast furnace shell is shown at 11 and the lining at 12. The hopper ring 13 is secured to the top of the shell 11 and upon the upperi'edge of the ring 13' rests the sup-' porting ring 35,150. which are connected the upper hopper housing plates 14. In the form shown the charging chute 15 is rotated by means of the gears 16 and motor 17 in ANDREWS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .ASSIGNOR T O H. A. BRASSERT & GOM- order to give a better distribution of the material throughout the circumference of the furnace. The charging material is delivered to the chute 15 by means'of the charging ship 18 running on tracks 19. It will be understood that the construction so far described is of a usual type with the eX- ception of the supporting ring 35 and the fact that the hopper ring 13 is so designed as to meet the large charging bell upon a smaller circle than is customary in usual constructions. The supporting ring 35, serves to increase the volume in the hopper to compensate for the loss of volume, due to the fact that the hopper ring 13 slopes inwardly upon a greater angle than in usual constructions, to meet the bell upon a smaller circle. lVhere the ring .35 is not necessary to maintain the volume it may be omitted. here the ring 35 is used, the hanger rod 21 of the large charging bell is of a corresponding greater length than in usual construction.

The large charging bell 20 is suspended from the hanger rod 21 and the small charging bell 22, which cooperates with the bottom section 23 of the charging chute, is hung from the sleeve 24 in the usual manner. It will be understood that usual forms of apparatus will be provided for raising and lowering the smaller charging bell and such devices have not been shown as they form nopart of the present invention.

The hanger rod 21 of the larger bell is extended through the steam cylinder 25 and through the ratchet sleeve 26. The ratchet sleeve 26 is rotatably fitted upon the top of the cylinder 25. The piston 27 is carried upon the rod 21 within the cylinder 25 and any usual connections may be provided for admitting steam into the cylinder to force the piston upwardly and thus close the larger bell 20 against the hopper ring 13. The bell is dropped by releasing the steam pressure under the piston. The rod 21 is provided with the arm 28, as best shown in Figure 3, this arm 28 fitting into the spiral groove 29 formed in the ratchet sleeve 26. The sleeve 26 is provided with teeth 30 which are engaged by the spring pressed pawl which is carried on lug 32.

The bell 20 is pivotally supported from the rod 21 and hence it is important to have its weight balanced about its point of suspension so that it will hang evenly. This is accomplished in the preferred form shown as the approximately oblong form causes the weight of the bell and of the material sup ported upon and flowing over the bell to be evenly distributed upon each side of the central pivot point. The ends of the oblong are preferably roun'ded,-'as shown at The sides of the bell are closed by the ver tically extending walls 34, the lower edges of which are in the plane of the ends 33. A

rigid structure is thus provided which will hang in balanced position from the rod 21.

In the use of the charging apparatus it will be understood that the charging material is introduced through chute 15 and will pass down through the chute and be dis tributed into the hopper formed above the large bell 20 by means of the small bell 22. The chute 15 may be rotated to make this distribution more uniform throughout the circumference of the hopper. When it is desired to introduce a charge into the furnace the small bell 22 is raised and closes the lower end of the chute 15. The large bell 20 is then lowered by releasing the pressure in the steam cylinder 25. As the bell 2O separates from the edge of the hopper ring 13, material will flow down between the ring and the bell into the top of the furnace This material will be guided in its flow by the lower flange of the bell and will be guided different distances towards the outer furnace wall at different circumferential. points due to the difference in the radial extent of the bell. All of the material will thus not be shot directly against the lining walls, as in usual forms of construction, but will be distributed throughout a large portion of the furnace area.

As the bell moves downwardly the rod 21 will move downwardly, carrying downwardly the arm 28. This downward movement of the arm 28 will force the ratchet sleeve 26 to rotate in the clockwise direction, as seen in Figure 3. This is for the reason that the sleeve will rotate much more easily than the entire bell and rod assembly. This rotation of the sleeve will be permitted by the spring pawl 31, which will ride over the teeth upon rotation in this direction.

After the charge has entered the furnace the bell 20 will be raised by the introduction of steam or other fluid under pressure into cylinder 25. As the rod 21 rises it will force the arm 28 upwardly in the groove 29 of the ratchet sleeve 26. This will tend to force the sleeve in the countercloclnvise direction but such movement of the sleeve is prevented by the spring pressed pawl 31. The arm 28 and groove 29 will thus serve to rotate the rod 21 and bell 20. In the form shown, this rotation is approximately a quarter of the circle. It will be understood that the slope of the groove 29 may be modified to give any desired amount of rotation of the lbell with each charging movement of the While I have shown one preferred form of my invention, it is capable of further changes and modifications to meet varying conditions of service and to adapt it for use with different constructions, and I contemplate such changes and modifications as come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a blast furnace or the like, a rotatable charging bell located interiorly of the top of the furnace, a hopper ring having a circular edge engaging the upper surface of the bell for closing the furnace top, said bell being of varying radial Widths at difierent points on its circumference, and being substantially symmetrical about any vertical plane passed through the vertical axis of'the bell.

2. In a blast furnace or the like, a rotatable charging bell located interiorly of the top of the furnace, a hopper ring having a circular edge engaging the upper surface of the bell for closing the furnace top, said bell having substantially parallel sides and rounded ends and being approximately oblong in horizontal projection.

3. In a blast furnace or the like, a rotatable charging bell located interiorly of the top of the furnace, a hopper ring having a circular edge engaging the upper surface of the bell for closing the furnace top, and a bell supporting rod, the exposed'surface of the bell, with the bell closed, being small in area relative to that of the furnace said bell being of varying radial Widths at different points on its circumference, and being symmetrical about any vertical plane passed through the vertical axis of the bell.

4. In ablast furnace or the like, a rotatable charging bell located interiorly of the top of the furnace, a hopper ring having a circular edge engaging the upper surface of the bell for closing the furnace top, said bell being of a shape having an elongated formin horizontal projection, and being substantially symmetrical about a plane passed through the vertical axis of the bell and the major axis of the elongated horizontal projection.

5. In a blast furnace or the like, a rotatable charging bell located interiorly of the top of the furnace, a hopper ring having a circular edge engaging the upper surface of the bell for closing the furnace top, the exposed surface of the bell, with the bell closed, being smallrelative to the cross sectional area of the furnace, said bell being of a shape having an elongated form in horizontal projection, and being substantially symmetrical about a plane passed through the vertical axis of the bell and the major axis of the elongated horizontal projection.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 30th day of January, 1928.

CHARLES W. ANDREWS. 

